VTDigger Gets Key EB-5 Document After Public Records Lawsuit

· First Amendment,Litigation,Electronic records

Cornell Dolan, P.C., teaming with the ACLU of Vermont, sued the State of Vermont to force the state to cough up key documents relating to the State's administration of an immigrant investor program that resulted in a $500 million fraud scheme at Jay Peak.

Today, the key document in the case was produced. It was the State's response to a federal inquiry in what went wrong with the Shumlin administration's oversight of the EB-5 program. VTDigger sent the Shumlin administration a public records request for the document. But the State denied the request, citing a loophole in the public records law that allows the State to withhold a document if it might be related to a lawsuit underway.

However, the Governor Phil Scott administration examined the document and determined that it could not harm that litigation and should be released. The document shows that the state had not provided proper oversight of the EB-5 program and did not detect the fraud until 2015.

Cornell Dolan, P.C. is proud to have helped VTDigger in this First Amendment litigation.